Check-in for Lent
Written by Courtney Lambesis on Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
Take a minute and think about how you would answer this question:
What things do you do to know God?
I’ll bet that your answers sound a lot like this:
- Read your bible
- Go to church
- Keep His commandments
- Pray daily
- Spread the news of the Lord
- Ask for forgiveness from sins
The list goes on and on… and that’s the problem. For many years I believed that to be close to God I had to follow a checklist of things that would please God. If I skipped church, sinned, or was judgmental about someone, I had disappointed Him. In order to make things right with God after I messed up, I believed I had to reverse these habits and be perfect. Someone in my Small Church Community called this mindset an attempt to earn ‘Jesus points.’
Go to church= +2 points
Say something mean to someone= -3 points
Pray= +1 point
Etc.
This is an exhausting cycle that causes us to feel unloved, and causes our desire for God in our lives to diminish. If we feel we can never please Him, it extinguishes our desire to try.
While I’m sure God is pleased when we do decide to read our bible, pray daily, or be kind to others, these things aren’t conditions for His love. In fact, His love for us is unconditional! There is not a single thing we can do to make His love for us less than it is!
So knowing that we don’t have to earn God’s love, how does God call us to live our lives?
The answer is simple: Love.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us: that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” -1 John 4:7-9
Jesus died for our sins in the ultimate act of love; He IS love. Therefore no matter what we say, do, or believe, we cannot possibly know God unless we love. That “checklist” I believed was necessary for God’s love should not be done out of fear of disappointing the Lord, but instead be viewed as graces from God that allow us to grow closer to Him. This Holy Week, may our goal be to love God and love others as unconditionally as God loves us.
Questions for Reflection:
Are there ways you in which you feel you have disappointed God that you need to let go of?
In what ways do you show love towards God and others best?
*******************************
Courtney Lambesis
Courtney is a sophomore majoring in Microbiology at the University of Michigan. She serves on the lead team for Small Church Communities at St. Mary Student Parish.
Email: lambesco@umich.edu